These teams will include high-level players who want the opportunity to compete against elite competition in front of prep school, junior, college and professional level scouts. We look for 5 key qualities in our players:

Why play in these showcase tournaments?

Coach Caruso's story of how he got to Ohio State from a goalie from Atlanta, GA.Dave grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and played AA travel hockey until he graduated high school. With his family's help, he applied to 5 different prep schools in New England for a postgraduate year after his senior year. All 5 schools declined his admission. Dave and his family did not have the guidance or hockey resources available in Atlanta to help him further than that.

However, as a testament to 'Good things come to good people,' Dave's former teammates and hockey family advocated for him. A former teammate was going to play for The Boston Bulldogs Junior team (coached by Mike Addesa. and asked their coach to let Dave to attend the College Hockey Prospects - New England Showcase tournament. He said yes.

Dave traveled to University of Southern Maine from Atlanta to play in this tournament. There he was floored by the level of competition. Unseen growing up in the south, Dave played against players who were already committed to play for Division 1 and Division 3 schools. An overwhelming number of NHL, NCAA, junior, and prep school scouts attended the tournament.

Dave played well the first game. In the second game, he let in 6 goals during the first half of the game. He played well in the 3rd game. After the tournament, Coach Mike Addesa talked with Dave. He told Dave that he thought he was a great skater and very athletic. Coach Addesa believe he could be a Division 1 player and offered him a spot as the third goalie on his junior team.

With no other options, Dave didn't need long to talk it over with his family and accept the offer. The opportunity to play for Coach Addesa and the location of team were the big in his decision of moving 900+ miles away from home. The draw of being New England, in the "mecca" of college hockey, was irresistible. By the numbers, there are more Division 1 and Division 3 colleges in New England than any other place. This means the college coaches have a quick drive to any tournament. Dave knew the best chance of continuing into a collegiate hockey career lay in exposure he could get with a New England junior team.

At that time, the Boston Bulldogs were an independent junior team. They played in mostly showcase tournaments against teams across the U.S. and Canada. Playing in the showcase tournaments helped him be seen by college coaches. The majority of NCAA coaches attended the showcase tournaments in which they could use one evaluation for the whole tournament.

These coaches needed to see Dave more often because he was an unknown goalie. Atlanta-based hockey didn't offer much opportunity to play against elite competition or have scouts attend games. What the coaches did know was Coach Addesa thought highly of Dave's playing ability and personality. Coach Addesa's validation still holds much sway in hockey. Coach Addesa would prove to be right as his showcase team won many tournaments and Dave received the "Best Goaltender Award" numerous times.

All 3 goalies on the Boston Bulldogs wound up continuing on to play Division 1 hockey. Dave played 1.5 years with the Boston Bulldogs before signing with The Ohio State Buckeyes. In retrospect, Dave knows his showcase tournament performances helped make him one of the most heavily recruited goaltenders for his age.​